The New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT) today announced that the Route 20 (Broadway Road) bridge over Tonawanda Creek in the town of Alexander is being restricted, effective today, to vehicles weighing 14 tons or less. The shoulders are closed.

This posting is being put in place following a recent inspection and engineering analysis that revealed the bridge can no longer safely carry heavier vehicles in its current condition. Tractor-trailers and school and coach buses will not be able to use the bridge.

NYSDOT monitors bridge safety through a thorough and rigorous inspection program. All bridges are inspected at least every two years and are analyzed for their capacity to carry vehicular loads.

This bridge is located just east of the cloverleaf intersection with Route 98. Electronic message boards and several other signs are being placed at key locations along the Route 63, Route 98, Route 19, Route 77 and Route 20 corridors to inform commercial trucks.

Commercial truck drivers should also be aware the structure that carries Route 20 over Oatka Creek in the Town of Pavilion was recently posted at 22 tons.

State forces will be making temporary repairs to both structures over the next several weeks to raise the posting limits. A capital project to replace both structures is being advanced and is expected to be under construction in 2015.

Of course the semi trucks are using Rt 20 to avoid some of the tolls on the Thruway and who can blame them. I have to say though, I won't be sorry for a rest from those trucks. Many of them use Colby and Sumner Rd. in Darien to avoid the signal light at Rt 77. Not only were these roads not meant for the pounding they take from these trucks, but the noise from jake braking 24 hours a day is extremely annoying. At least in Batavia there is a lower speed limit.